Destiny's Warrior revised
by Kalira423
Summary: Talpa has a daughter and she is bearer of the tenth armor. But what happens when she is sent on a spy mission with the Ronins? This story will be a little different from the original
1. Prolouge: birth of a new armor

Disclaimer: I do not own Ronin Warriors but I wish I did.  I do own the original characters. I apologize in advance if the portrayal the characters a little out of character. 

A.N. - Ok I know that I already posted this story but this one is a revision. I am going through the chapters, rereading them, and editing, adding more detail and I hope to even add some new chapters as well. Basically, I'm fixing the mistakes I see in hopes of making this story better and be a little closer to the anime.  I am going to keep the original destiny's warrior up so that you readers can compare if your heart so desires. ^_^ and I will also continue to update Loving the Enemy along with this one too.  So I hope I get some reviews for this one telling me what you think and that you all enjoy the new version of Destiny's Warrior. 

Talpa stared out of the window at the pouring rain wondering what he was going to do now. 

_'I never wanted a wife.'_ he thought angrily. "And I certainly don't want a child!" he said out loud, yelling at the blackened sky outside. 

Talpa had married a woman a few years ago to ensure his getting free from the spirit world.  Now that he was back in Japan he had no need for his wife anymore.  "Then she had to go and have a child" he thought darkly as if he didn't help with that. This was certainly going to put a damper in his plans to conquer the world.  He had only found one of the ten armors that he needed to control the world.  This was the one belonging to Anubis. The young child was enough of a hassle already.  Now he had to deal with his own child running around.

"Master Talpa," a voice behind him called.

"What is it now Anubis?" Talpa growled.

The ten-year old Anubis looked at the imposing figure of his master. He had been found by Talpa a few months ago and had promptly decided to serve him with all of the power of his armor which he was in the process of learning to use under Talpa's watchful eye.

"Your wife requests you in her chambers." Anubis said, "She wants you to see your new daughter."

"A daughter!" Talpa thought as his eyes flashed angrily, this was even worse than he could have imagined. If he had a son _maybe_ he could have been useful to him in regaining the armors, but a _daughter_ that was just insult to injury. 

Slowly Talpa turned around and strode to his wife chambers his expression one of irritation. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he entered the room.  She lay in the bed, looking very pale against the white sheets. A quick word from the doctor told Talpa that his wife wouldn't live much longer, she had simply lost too much blood. "Perfect" Talpa muttered sarcastically, now he was going to have to take care of his insufferable child alone. Talpa walked over to his wife's side not even caring to glance at his now sleeping daughter. 

"Isn't she wonderful Talpa?" his wife questioned weakly, "I shall call her Sakura" 

Talpa gave an irritated look at the peacefully sleeping girl lying in her mother's arms as he picked her up to get a closer look at her.

Talpa's red eyes soon widened in shock as a red symbol appeared, glowing on her forehead. Talpa stared at it his mind trying to register the symbol. _'No,'_ he thought _'it can't be.' _ As if to prove him wrong the symbol glowed brighter, the symbol of love.  That could only mean one thing. His daughter possesed one of the ten armors. It seemed as though luck was on his side for once.

"Maybe..." Talpa said his expression turning into a smirk, "Maybe having a daughter won't be so bad after all."


	2. morning adventure

Chapter 1 Disclaimer: Again I do not own Ronin Warriors. 

Ten years had passed since Talpa's wife had passed away and his daughter had been born.  Many events had filled that time period.  Talpa had found three more armor bearers: Cale, Sekhmet, and Dais for one, and his daughter was growing up.  Sakura woke that morning to the sunlight streaming in through her window. She squinted at the intrusion of the bright light and jumped out of bed, running to look out the window.  

"We don't normally get a lot of sunlight here." She thought.  "Today would be a great day to go out and play" she smiled happily as she looked out her tower window. Scanning the grounds she saw a white shape darting in and out among the trees. Curious to what it was, Sakura opened the window and leaned out until she made out the shape. 

"It's a white tiger!" she exclaimed. "But, what would a tiger be doing out here?" she wondered. The only tiger that she knew about for miles was her own, Kero. Anubis had found the orange tiger cub and would have left it alone to die had it not been for Sakura's interference. Since then Kero and Sakura had been inseparable. As she watched the white tiger she saw it grab something, then it turned around and ran in the opposite direction just as quickly as it had come. 

"That tiger sure is in a hurry to bring whatever it had in its mouth somewhere." She said aloud. "And I want to know where!" she said decisively. And with that she quickly put on a pair of jeans and a shirt.  She also strapped a sword to her back.  Her father had given it to her a few years ago and she now rarely went anywhere without it in case she ever needed it.  She then gave a call to Kero.  

"Come on Kero," she hollered "Lets go." She said as she ran down the stairs. The sound of Sakura's shoes could be heard running down the wooden stairs closely followed by Kero's padded paws.  She had almost made it to the doors when a hand grabbed her from behind.

"Where do you think your going?" A voice behind her implied. 

Laughing Sakura turned around to find Anubis holding on to the back of her shirt.   
"Anubis," she whined "let go." She finished with a laugh. Anubis was always being overprotective of her. The two had become fast friends when her father partnered her up with him in weapons practice. She had come to consider him a big brother and her best friend. 

"I just want to make sure that you'll be careful." He said "Accidents can happen. It's too easy for you to…"

"Get hurt or lost." Sakura finished for him.

"And you need to stay inside at least the neutral area boundaries…" Anubis began.

"At all times." Sakura finished again. She had heard this speech of his before.  "It never changes." She said to herself as she looked at Kero as though exchanging a secret.

"And if I see any strangers don't talk to them. Come straight home." Sakura quoted. "Okay, Okay, can I go now? Please?" Sakura begged. If she didn't hurry she'd never be able to catch up to that tiger.

"Cute." Anubis said with a laugh.

"Mind Anubis, Sakura!" A voice said from behind her. Sakura turned her head to see her father giving her an imposing look. 

"Yes, father." Sakura said humbly. Anubis let go of Sakura's shirt and with a final goodbye she turned and ran out the door, Kero following her.

"Make sure you get back in time for your lessons!" Anubis called after her. Knowing full well that she would have made it back in time even if he hadn't said anything.  She was always prompt to her lessons, especially to weapons practice, which was her favorite. 

"She'll be back soon," he said to himself as he and Talpa headed towards Talpa's throne room.


	3. first meeting

Sakura ran in the direction that she had seen the tiger go, with Kero hot on her heels.  Once she got to the forest border she hopped on Kero's back. He was strong enough to carry her because she was so little.  The two raced after the tiger, Kero following his scent. 

"Look!" Sakura said, "There he is." She said as she saw the black and white striped animal.  "Alright Kero, let's slow down so that he doesn't see us, but don't lose him."

Kero growled in agreement and slowed his pace. The two followed the white tiger for a ways when Kero suddenly came to a halt.

"Kero?" Sakura said with a question in her voice. "Why did you stop? We're going to lose it. Oh!" Sakura said with a quick intake of breath. They were at the boundary dividing the neutral area and the Ronin Lands. Making a quick decision Sakura urged Kero on.

"Come on Kero, I want to know where that tiger is going."

 Kero then leaped forward and they were again in hot pursuit of the tiger.  Shortly after crossing the border the tiger started to slowed down to a walking pace and walked toward a boy with black hair sitting up against a tree. 

"Good job White Blaze," the boy said, "I knew I could count on you." The boy and tiger turned and walked further into the forest with Sakura and Kero silently following them.    
White Blaze," the boy whispered to the tiger. "I think that we are being followed." The huge tiger slowly turned his head to the side and saw the pair behind them. "Don't worry though we'll lose them at the waterfall. You know what to do."  The tiger nodded in understanding as the two walked calmly walked on.  

"Kero!" Sakura whispered. "I just figured out what that white tiger is carrying.  It's a sword! I wonder if that boy knows swordsmanship." Preoccupied with her new discovery Sakura missed the white tiger slipping off into another direction, leaving the sword with the boy which he strapped to his side. They soon came upon a waterfall that ran into a river. 

"Kero," Sakura whispered. "You stay here and I'll go on ahead." Looking up she had found she lost sight of the boy. Confused Sakura walked out of the shadows of the tree she was hiding behind.  The boy silently watched her from behind the waterfall his sword unsheathed in his hand.  Sakura gracefully jumped on a stone that rose out of the water and then onto another till she was in the middle of the river.  Sakura surveyed the scene around her.  The waterfall flowed gently into the tranquil river that was more of a stream than a river.  A few rocks rose above the water here and there and there was an outcropping of rocks on either side of the waterfall.  She shaded her eyes with her hand, trying to figure out where the boy had disappeared to. The boy watched her intently from behind the waterfall. He shifted his weight on the balls of his feet, preparing himself, then leapt out of the waterfall and onto a rock; sword pointed at Sakura. Sakura slowly turned to face him and the two stared at each other for a while. Neither spoke or moved as they both stared transfixed at the other, the wind quietly ruffling their hair. Neither could explain it, but there seemed to be some sort of connection with the other.  The boy slowly lowered his sword, not seeing her as a threat.  He stared at Sakura, transfixed by her golden eyes and shoulder length cyan colored hair which blew gently in the breeze.  Sakura also studied the boy captivated by his short black hair and stunning blue eyes. The boy slowly took a step towards Sakura, in an attempt to close the distance between them.  But that was all that was needed to break the trance. Startled, Sakura took a step back and then quickly turned, jumped to the side of the river, and ran towards Kero.  She leaped deftly onto his back and the two raced back home, the boy running after them.

"Wait," he yelled. Whether Sakura ignored him or did not hear she quickly left him behind standing at the edge of the forest. Once the two got a good distance away from the waterfall, Sakura stopped Kero as she looked back. There was something about that boy, she couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something. 

_'I better not let father ever find out I went past the neutral area_, _he' probably ground me for life._' she thought. "Let's hurry Kero, I have to make it home before lessons!" 

The boy silently watched their retreating backs as another boy, with blond hair falling over one eye, followed by White Blaze came from the opposite direction. 

"Hey Ryo," the other boy called from across the river. "Who was that?" 

"I don't know Sage." Ryo said shrugged as he turned around. "But whoever she is, she's gone now." 

"Think she'll ever be back?" Sage inquired. 

"I don't know. But I doubt that we will ever see her again." Ryo said as he stared at the spot he has last seen her. Not knowing how wrong his statement would be.


	4. lessons and assignments

It had been eight years since Sakura had met Ryo, and she still thought about him a lot, though she never really knew just quite why. He was always there, lingering in the back of her mind.

_"I wonder what he looks like now."_ She thought to herself. She closed her eyes trying to conjure up an image of an eighteen year old boy with black hair and those stunning blue eyes as she absent mindedly stroked Kero. Kero purred in response as her hand scratched his ear.  A knock sounded on her door scattering her thoughts as a familiar voice called her name.

"Sakura, Master Talpa wants to see you." The owner of the voice was Dais. One of her fathers warlords, the warlord of illusions to be exact. Anubis had told her that Dais had started taking a more personal interest in her lately and that Talpa was trying to encourage it.  

"Alright Dais," Sakura sighed. "I'm coming." She said as she left her room closing the door behind her. 

"Am I correct in assuming that I have lessons?" she asked. Dais gave a small smile as he nodded.

"I still don't understand why father _still_ makes me have lessons." She complained, as she and Dais walked down the hall. "What am I supposed to be studying today?" she asked.

"I think geography." Dais said. 

"Geography!" Sakura moaned. "What's the point? I mean Japan has been divided into five separate regions for as long as I can remember."

"Well then you shouldn't have any reason not to know it by now." Dais joked. 

"This coming from the person, who also has to attend the lesson," Sakura retorted.  Dais shook his head good naturedly as the two entered the throne room.

"Ah, Sakura," Talpa said. "So nice of you to finally join us." He said giving her a look that said she better not be late again. Sakura looked at her father.  He had taken on the appearance of a gigantic floating head with glowing red eyes. She preferred it when her father actually had a body.  

"I'm sorry father," Sakura apologized. "I got a little distracted." Dais looked at her with a puzzled expression, but didn't say anything.

"Today's lesson is geography. Sakura, I want you to tell me all that I have taught you so far in this subject."

Sakura took a deep breath and started reciting all she had learned, "Japan is divided into five different regions.  Each region is owned by a person, or group.  The first region is the Shadow lands. This is where we reside and is owned by you, father." 

"Yes, correct, continue," Talpa said nodding his massive head.  

"The second region is the Phoenix Mountains which are located near our boundaries. This is owned by the emperor of Japan. The third region is the Emperor lands, these lands are also owned by the emperor and include the main cities like Tokyo and Kyoto."

"Yes, yes, very good," Talpa said in agreement. 

"The fourth region is the neutral areas." Sakura continued as she counted them off on her fingers.  "These areas are owned by no one, and anyone is allowed to use them, and any type of fighting on these lands is strictly forbidden. And the last and final region is the Ronin lands. These lands are owned by… by… actually father, you never told me who the Ronin lands are owned by.  You always just said that I could never go there."  

"Yes, my daughter, I have left out that bit of information from you, and I will tell you one day, but now is not the time.  As you know I am trying to regain what is rightfully mine. Do you have any idea of what that might be?" Talpa questioned.

"The world, right?" Sakura guessed. "I mean you told me that you once ruled the world, but it was taken from you and then you were banished to the spirit world. And there you met mother." Sakura sighed and fingered a blue crystal necklace around her neck that her father had given her the year before.  

(Flashback)

"Here Sakura, this is yours." Talpa said as he handed Sakura a tiny golden box. Sakura slowly lifted the lid and gave a small gasp.  Inside was a beautiful glowing blue crystal attached to a silver chain.  

"That necklace was your mothers," Talpa said. "She asked me to give it to you when you turned seventeen."  Sakura lifted the crystal out of the box as it dangled from her fingers, rotating on the chain. 

"Why is the crystal glowing, father?" Sakura questioned.

"Because your mother was the daughter of a very powerful sorcerer, which means that she had magic of her own as do you.  When a person with magic dies, their magic is contained inside something then passed down to their children to help with their magical energy. Soon you will learn to effectively use your own magical energy. Your lessons start tomorrow."

(End Flashback)

And so began her magic lessons. Sakura worked harder at her magic lessons than the others.  It was the one link she had with her mother.  

"Yes," Talpa said snapping Sakura back to the present. "I intend to regain control of the world again, but I need your help to do it.  There are guardians throughout Japan that protect the area that they live in.  If I am to get back what is mine I must start with taking control of Japan.  We will need all the help from these guardians and I am sending you to persuade them to join our team."

"I'll gladly help you take back what is rightfully yours father, but why me?" Sakura asked. "Why not send Cale or Sekhmet? Surely one of them is more qualified for the job than me." 

"The guardians need someone with magical energy to find them." Talpa explained "And your first task is to talk to the guardian of the waterfalls in the Ronin lands."


	5. seeing her again

Sakura walked calmly towards the familiar waterfall where she had met that boy so many years ago. His face plaguing her memory. _I wonder if he still comes here.'_ She thought to herself, but then pushed them aside. She had a job to do.  _"Ironic,"_ She thought with a smile. _"Father has always forbidden me to even think about going anywhere outside the neutral area, now he can't wait for me to break that rule_."  She giggled inwardly.

"I wish he would have let me bring Kero," Sakura said aloud.  Drawing near the waterfall, Sakura jumped to the same the middle rock as she had the last time.  Fingering her crystal around her neck it started to glow with blue magical energy.  Then she called out in a loud voice.

"I wish to speak to the guardian of the waterfall in the Ronin lands." Suddenly a column of water shot up in the air next to her.  When it disappeared a griffon stood in its place.  The griffon slowly turned it's beady eyes on her, inspecting her.  "It has been a long time since a magician has asked to speak to me, and even longer since it has been a pretty one." The guardian walked over to her and spoke again. "What is it that you seek?"

"Great guardian of the waterfall…" Sakura began. 

"Please, call me Oris." The griffon interrupted.  Sakura blinked, trying to hide back a giggle.

"Um…yes, Oris, I am here on behalf of my father, Talpa…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Ryo!"  A blond boy yelled.  "Why do you insist on coming up to this waterfall all the time? It's not like that girl you saw is going to be there."

"That isn't the only reason I go up there Sage!" Ryo said indignantly.  "And she could be there, you never know."

"Oh, please, Ryo, you saw her once, and that was eight years ago!" Sage commented.  Ryo sighed, Sage didn't understand, he hadn't been the one to see her.  Ryo couldn't explain it, but he had felt some sort of connection or something with her.  He had thought of her often, he just couldn't seem to get her out of his head. Suddenly a scream pierced the air as the two boys turned their heads in that direction. 

"Did you hear that?" Sage asked.

"Yeah, I think it came from the direction of the waterfall.  Let's go." Ryo said.  With that the two boys took off towards the waterfall. They got there in time to see a griffon towering over a girl lying on the bank.  

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"No, Oris you don't understand, you have the wrong idea!" Sakura tried to explain. Sakura had inadvertently touched upon a subject that made the griffon upset. He glared at her, his eyes ablaze with fury.  Suddenly a boy came flying through the air kicking the griffon in the side of the head sending him into the waterfall.  

"Looks like I got here just in time," Ryo said as he held his hand out to help Sakura up.  Sakura stared at Ryo.  It was him, the boy that she met here eight years ago.  

"Ryo! Look out!" Sage yelled as the griffon recovered and charged at him.  Ryo turned and leapt to the side, the griffon missing him by inches.  The griffon turned and charged at Ryo again.  Ryo jumped out of the way as the griffon ran under him and hit a rock, head on, knocking him unconscious. Sakura stared at the unconscious griffon in shock, what was father going to say when she told him.  

Ryo turned around and faced Sakura, getting a good look of her face, and stared. _'It's her!'_ Ryo thought. He knew it was, he'd remember those eyes more than anything.   "Are you okay?" Ryo asked her as he helped her to her feet. Sakura stared at the unconscious griffon then at Ryo. It had all happened so fast, and she was still in a daze; there was no way that guardian was going to join her fathers team now. _'Father is going to be mad.'_ She thought. 

"Hey, are you alright?" Ryo asked again snapping her back to the present. Sakura turned her head to glare at him.

"What did you think you were doing?" She said with fire in her eye.

"Saving you from that griffon," Sage answered. 

"Listen, I didn't need you two to save me." Sakura answered haughtily folding her arms over her chest. 

"Are you kidding me?" Ryo asked incredulously. "That thing was about to rip your head off."

"He was not." Sakura said weakly trying to hide the fact that she had been scared. "And even if he was, I can take care of myself.  You two aren't the only ones who know how to fight ya know."  It was then that Sakura noticed that the two boys were wearing sub-armor.* _'They're wearing sub-armor?'_ she wondered.  _'But I thought only me and the other warlords had armor.'_

"Well," Sakura said aloud her tone changing from anger to curiosity, "so tell me, Mr. Red Warrior, what is your name? I must know who it is that thought they needed to come to my rescue." She uncrossed her arms as she began to inquire about them, it seemed as though her father had neglected to tell her certain things.

"I'm Ryo, Ryo of the Wildfire." Ryo proudly said. 

"And I'm Sage of the Halo." Sage added. "And what might your name be?"

"Sakura," she said off handedly.  _'There is no need for them to know that I am a warlord in my father's army, but I do have some questions for him  when I get home.'_ She thought.

"Pretty name," Ryo said, _'For a pretty girl.'_ His mind added.

Sakura awarded his comment with a smile when she turned to go '_there is no more need for me to be here anymore, I might as well go home, I'm going to have to tell him sooner or later.' _ She thought to herself. Aloud she said, "Well, I must be going now, see you later, Wildfire." 

The two boys watched as she walked into the forest and disappeared from view.  

"Well, that sure was interesting," Sage commented. "Let's go back Ryo we better leave before our new _friend_ wakes up," he said gesturing towards the unconscious griffon. 

"Yeah," said Ryo slowly, still looking at the spot he had last seen Sakura. "Yeah," he said again more firmly. "Let's go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

* For those who don't know or aren't sure sub-armor is the armor that the Ronin warriors wear before they transform into the actual armor.


	6. unwanted thoughts

Sakura rushed home as fast as she could.  She had a lot to tell her father and even more to ask.  "If those guys had sub- armor then they must have the actual battle armor. And that must mean that their armor is part of the armor that once belonged to my father, but if all of this is true, why hasn't father said anything to me about it?" She knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. It seemed as though the more she found out, the more she saw that her father was keeping things from her. Her face saddened. It was a very unsettling feeling to think that he was hiding something from her. But the main question was why?

Once home Sakura rushed to the throne room where she was sure her father was.  She halted right before she reached the door, slowed her breathing, and calmly walked into the room.  Not only was her father in the room, in his floating head form, but everyone else was there also. They all turned looking expectant as she opened the heavy wooden doors. 

"Ah, my daughter has returned." Talpa said when he noticed her. "Tell me, when is our new ally coming to join us?" 

"Well, I'm afraid that we don't have a new ally." Sakura said weakly, steeling herself for the yelling that she knew what coming. 

"What!?!" cried Talpa along with everyone else. "How could you not have failed?" Cale demanded. "He was a griffon!"

"Griffons are naturally on our side!" Sekhmet added. 

"Well, I probably could have if it wasn't for that stupid Ryo of the wildfire!" Sakura replied in defense hotly. 

Talpa's eyes glowed brighter red with anger. "Who?" his voice low and serious.

"Ryo of the wildfire," Sakura repeated thinking of his face again, not noticing the change in her father's voice. "He and some other guy, I think his name is Sage of the Halo, they attacked the guardian before I got a good chance to talk to him, and father, they have armor, like me!" 

Talpa was silent for a while; he knew he had been caught in his lie. He had conveniently forgotten to mention to her about the other armors and of the existence of the Ronins. He only hoped he could play it off as necessary for her well being as he spoke in a low tone, "Sakura, my daughter, there is much I must now tell you." 

Sakura was shocked.  She hadn't expected a response like this. She had expected him to be mad at her failure. She had seen what he did to those who failed him, and if often scared her.

"Do you remember when I told you that one day I would tell you about the Ronin lands?" Her father asked.

"Yes sir," Sakura replied nodding slowly. 

"It is time for you to know, the owner of the Ronin lands is a man know as the Ancient One." Talpa began.

"He has assembled a band of rebels to fight against us, using five of the armors that belong to Lord Talpa." Sekhmet said.

"Starting tomorrow, you will be educated about the Ronin warriors and help us fight them." Talpa said. 

"You know I will always do as you ask of me father, but there is one thing I do not understand.  Why haven't I been told of the Ronin warriors till now?" Sakura inquired.

"We all thought it best to keep it from you unless we knew we were going to need your help." Anubis answered. 

Realization suddenly dawned on Sakura. "The Ronin warriors have been who you guys have been fighting against this entire time, haven't they?" She had for the past few months seen the others hard at work, training. And leaving sporadically, and then coming back as her father yelled at them and their incompetence.

"Yes, but we are not strong enough, and it is now apparent that we will need your help in defeating them," Sekhmet said.

Sakura's face changed to one of interest to determination. "Father, I will do everything I can to help you defeat those Ronin warriors!" Sakura stated loyally.

"Excellent!" Talpa said. "Your lessons on the Ronin warriors will start tomorrow!" 

"Oh no!" Sakura complained.  "Not more lessons."

Sakura's lessons suddenly became the top priority in her life.  Her father refused to let her even think about challenging the Ronin warriors until he thought she was ready.  Sakura studied and trained harder than ever before.  In addition to her magic lessons, which were progressing very well, and her lessons in weaponry she also had to memorize all the information that they had on the Ronin warriors.  She learned them by name and picture, special attacks, and styles in fighting. 

"She is coming along well," Dais commented to Anubis one day.  The two were watching her weaponry lessons from an overhead station and shouting out advice and pointers when needed. 

"Yes," Anubis replied.  "She is becoming an excellent fighter.  She seems to be a natural with a sword and a fairly good shot with an arrow.  She lacks strength but her small frame and speed makes up for it as it makes her a hard target to hit in combat. 

"Her magic also is a good tool, although she does lose control of it a few times when she is angry." He rubbed his head, she had lost her temper and levitated a chair and hurled it at him when he pinned her in swordsmanship. 

Anubis smiled at the memory but made no answer to Dais's comment. He did, however, notice the softened look in Dais's eyes when he spoke of her. _'It seems, ' _Anubis thought. _'That a certain warlord is falling for our little Sakura. _He smiled. _'I bet Talpa is thrilled. Having his only child marry one of his warlords, what better way to ensure loyalty.'_

 Along with all her new training Sakura still found time for herself.   Besides Kero, who was now a full grown tiger and fiercely loyal to only Sakura, she had gained the friendship of many of the animals surround the castle. They ranged from birds all the way up to a dragon whom she affectionately called Draco. There was only one thing that bugged Sakura, Ryo.  She couldn't get him off of her mind, no matter how hard she tried.  Dais also noticed her seemingly sudden lack of interest in him and tried to bring the attention back on himself, but every time she looked at him she found her mind wandering and Ryo's blue eyes always popped into her head along with the way he had looked at her that day.  Sakura was attracted to Dais and she fought hard against her thoughts about Ryo, but it wasn't easy.

"He is the enemy!" She told herself in the mirror as she stared at her reflection.  She wanted to talk to Anubis, but she knew what he would say. And if word got out that she was having feelings for the enemy then her father would never let her out of the castle.  "No, I won't think about him anymore!" Sakura promised herself. "I like Dais, a lot. Besides he isn't fighting against my father." Sakura worked harder to made good on her promise not to think about Ryo anymore, but little did Sakura know, her promise was about to get almost impossible not to break.


	7. wind mistress

It had been a month since Sakura had started her training to beat the Ronin warriors.  She had made much progress and her father was especially pleased. 

"Sakura," her father said as he walked into the training room. Sakura smiled, he was actually in his human form today.  

"It is time for you to start training with your full armor," her father announced. Sakura stopped mid attack. 

"What? I get to actually wear the real battle armor?" Sakura asked stunned.  Even though Sakura had known that she possessed one of the ten armors, her father had for some reason never let her train in anything but her sub-armor. 

"This is so awesome!" Sakura thought, _'my armor.'_  

"First, you need to know some things about it." Talpa informed her.  "Each armor is powered by some kind of character trait that is strongest in them.  Each armor also allows the bearer to control something, to some extent, and has a certain state that it performs best in. 

Sakura knew all of this already from learning about the Ronin warriors.  She could tell anyone who asked, who owned which armor, what it controlled, and which state it was strongest in and which character trait powered their armor.  

"Your armor, Sakura," her father continued "is no different. Your armor allows you to control something."

"What about all of your armors?" Sakura questioned the other warlords, who had gathered behind Talpa.  She knew about the Ronins, but she realized she didn't know theirs.  

"My armor is the armor of Cruelty." Anubis said, "Powered by the trait of loyalty."  The others went around and told Sakura of their armors. Cale was the warlord of Darkness and allowed him to control darkness to some extent, and was powered by the trait of Obedience; Dais was the warlord of Illusions and could make people see things that weren't there, and was powered by the trait of Serenity; and Sekhmet was warlord of Venom and was a poisons master, and powered by 

Piety. 

"What about mine?" Sakura wanted to know, anticipation growing. 

"You are Sakura, the warlord of Hate" Talpa told her. "Powered by the trait of Love." Talpa finished spitting out the word love as if it was a terrible disease.  "You will soon learn on your own what you can control, we can not tell you, and it must be learned on your own."

"That wouldn't be my magic, would it?" Sakura guessed.

 "No, that is just an inherited gene from your mother." Talpa told her. 

"How do I go about finding it?" Sakura questioned. 

"Just one day, you'll know." Cale said. "At least that's how it worked for us."

"But first, let's see what your actual armor looks like." Anubis said. Sakura was more the ready to try, she had been wondering what it looked like as she summoned her armor. When she was done, she observed her reflection in the mirror. It was different from the others, that much was obvious. It looked like her armor was made to be worn by a female. She wore a golden chest plate that matched the pieces of armor around her arms and legs. This allowed her more freedom of movement that the others had. Her helmet slightly resembled a cat's face and went over her head with a small visor that covered her eyes but still allowed her to see out. The gold of the armor matched her eyes and set off her cyan colored hair. Talpa smiled,   
 "And now it begins."

So Sakura trained, learning all there was to know about her armor.  She soon found out what her armor gave her control over, wind.  She was a master of wind, able to manipulate it to do many things, even allow her to fly to an extent. She couldn't create the wind, merely control it. So she had to be careful, if the wind stopped while she was in the air, she better hope that she was near the ground.  

"Well done," Anubis congratulated one day after a successful lesson, "You'll be able to fight the Ronin warriors with us in no time."

"Anubis, why hasn't father let me fight them before?"  Sakura asked.  It had been a question that weighed heavily on her mind for a while now.

"Well," Anubis thought. "Probably because you're his daughter." Anubis answered. 

"His daughter," Sakura said confused. "Why would that have anything to do with it?"

"He wants to keep you as safe as possible, because even though he doesn't always show it, your father does care about your safety."

Sakura smiled, "Yeah, I guess he does."

A few days later Dais entered the training room where Sakura was practicing her sword techniques with Cale.  The sword was easily becoming her favorite and most skilled weapon to fight with.

"Sakura," Dais called. "Master Talpa requests us in the throne room."

"The throne room," Sakura questioned. "What does he want us there for?"

"I think it has something to do with the Ronin warriors." Dais replied.

Dais and Sakura headed toward the throne room wondering what Talpa could want. The two entered the throne room as everyone else looked at them as they entered. Sakura noticed the giant screen next to her father's giant floating head and on the screen was the Ronins. As soon as she entered the room, the warlords vanished and she saw then on the screen, fighting the Ronins. Sakura stood next to her father as she watched them fight, and while they had the upper hand for a while, they slowly began to start to lose. Talpa watched as his eyes narrowed, he turned to Sakura and gave a nod. Sakura knew what he wanted her to do. A light breeze came in through a high window as Sakura gathered it around her and created a tiny tornado in her hands. The crystal around her neck glowed, illuminating her face with a blue light as she magically sent the tornado to where the Ronins and Warlords were fighting. Sakura's tornado sucked up the Ronins flinging them far a wide from each other as Talpa looked down at his daughter and smiled in approval. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A.N. - Ok, just for future reference, I'm going to be tweaking the time line a little of the anime to fit the story. I can add more chapters this way, so if something happens in the wrong order, I am sorry. It's been a long time since I actually saw the anime and right now I am going on an episode guide that I have. So, I hope you enjoy it nonetheless and I will update my other stories ASAP. Keep reviewing.


	8. failure and education

Now that the Ronins were separated from each other, thanks to Sakura's tornado, Mia took it upon herself to find them again. And she wouldn't be successful if Talpa had anything to say about it. Using the giant screen next to him in the throne room, he watched as Mia located Ryo in the volcano. And so Talpa sent Anubis to deal with it. And also to further Sakura's education, she was made to watch the fight. Sakura watched the giant screen intently as Anubis and Ryo battled it out above the volcano that he had been transported to. As she watched the fight, standing next to her father, she felt an impulse to help Ryo in some small way. She shook her head as she continued to watch the fight with bated breath. Her heart was torn, Anubis was like her brother, and yet she had a strong want to be close to Ryo. Soon the fight was over and Anubis appeared next to her, looking angry and embarrassed that he had lost. Talpa rounded on him as soon as he appeared.

"You incompetent fool!" Talpa shouted as the other warlords surrounded him. 

"You can't even take care of one of them!" Talpa roared in fury, shaking the ceiling with his rage. Anubis stared at the floor, feeling the smirks of the other warlords and sensing Sakura's apologetic look. 

"I am sorry, Master." Anubis said humbly. Talpa's eyes glowed red.

"Sorry?!" he yelled. "Sorry! Sorry doesn't cut it! You will be punished for your failure!" Talpa threatened as Sakura looked to her father, hoping to plead with him on Anubis's behalf. 

"Please father." Sakura said as Talpa turned an annoyed look at her. "It wasn't his fault. Ryo was in the volcano, where his armor is the strongest. Anubis was at a disadvantage." She pointed out logically. Anubis continued to stare at the floor, a small smile of appreciation on his face. He knew that she was taking a big risk sticking up for him, and Talpa could just as easily decide to punish her or both of them to teach them a lesson.  The other warlords remained quiet. They knew that Sakura would do the same if it was one of them that was in the hot seat and they waited for her father's decision. Talpa just continued to glare as his daughter as she shrank back in fear. She didn't like that look. 

"That is no excuse. I will not tolerate failure!" Talpa said enraged that his own daughter was attempting to under mine his judgment, but he also knew that his daughter held a rebellious streak, and to punish her along with Anubis would not work to his advantage. 

"My decision is final!" Talpa said turned back to Anubis as he sent him to the lower levels of the castle. The others stood quiet in fear as Talpa turned to them, "We can not let the other Ronins be awakened." Talpa scanned the faces of his warlords as his gaze settled upon Sekhmet. 

"You, you will follow them and stop them from waking the next Ronin." He ordered. 

Sekhmet bowed low. "Yes Master." He replied as he turned to leave.  

"Sakura, you will accompany him!" Talpa said as she looked at him in shock.   
"Sir?" she asked. 

"You will learn better if you are there. You must stay out of the way, but I expect a full report when you get back. You are the help Sekhmet in any way he asks understood?!" Talpa said. Sakura nodded humbly. Sakura walked over to Sekhmet and glanced at him from the corner of his eye, it was clear that he thought he was playing babysitter.  The two headed for the door to leave, when Talpa's voice stopped them. 

"I warn you." He said darkly. "You two better not fail me!" Sakura and Sekhmet turned and bowed low. 

"We will not fail you." They said as they left the room. 

Sakura and Sekhmet perched on top of a rock as they waited for the Ronins. This was where Sage of the Halo was located, and they knew that Mia, Yulie, and Ryo were on their way. 

"When they get here. I want you to stay out of the way understand. You father would kill me if something happened to you." Sekhmet said.

"I won't be in the way Sekhmet." Sakura said scanning the dirt roads. "There they are." Sekhmet looked where she was pointed as he jumped off the rock and prepared for the battle. Sakura stepped back into the shadows, her heart beating faster at the approaching red flash she saw of Ryo's armor. 


	9. traitorous actions

Sakura stayed out of the way of the fight as she had promised. She noted Ryo's fighting style and the way he made sure that Mia and Yulie were out of harms way. Sekhmet had called upon her fathers Dynasty soldiers to help him with the fight. Ryo easily took care of them as Sekhmet threw his poisonous swords at him. Once again Ryo dodged the attacks, but one narrowly missed his head, sending drops of poison into his eyes. Ryo started to stumble about, attempting to still fight Sekhmet through his blindness that the poison had caused. Sakura watched as a feeling of pity washed over her. 

_'There is no way that he can win now.' _ She thought. _'He got the poison in his eye. He will fail.' _ Sekhmet was about to administer a fatal blow as White Blaze appeared and whisked Ryo out of harms way. Sakura let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding as Sekhmet's attack destroyed the entrance to the cave. Sakura moved from her vantage point to follow the white tiger and his injured master. White Blaze stopped next to a small stream as Ryo tried to wash the poison out of his eyes to no avail. Ryo summoned his armor as he attempted to find his comrade by the armors link. Ryo stumbled around as Sekhmet triumphantly watched like a cat toying with a mouse. Mia and Yulie shouted at Ryo to help Sage who was right behind him, not realizing his blindness. Sekhmet gave a cold laugh. 

"He can not see. My poison has blinded him, and there is no way he will ever be able to see again!" 

Mia and Yulie gave small gasps of horror as Ryo continued to pound on the rock he thought was imprisoning Sage. Finally having enough of his game, Sekhmet started attacking Ryo as he took each blow that was dealt to him. Sakura watched intently as Ryo collapsed to the ground. Ryo's defeat seemed unavoidable as Sage broke free of his rock prison, illuminating the cave with his light. Sage carried the blind Ryo outside and set him down, a safe distance from the fight as he took on Sekhmet. Mia and Yulie were still in the cave where Sage had instructed them to stay as Sakura jumped from her lookout point next to Ryo. Sakura stared at the blind warrior as he lay, propped up against the rock. Here was her chance. She could win a crucial armor for her father and kill him. And in killing him, she would eliminate the forbidden thoughts that still seemed to pop up in her mind, no matter how hard she fought them.  Sakura narrowed her eyes, as she stepped forward. This was her golden opportunity. Coming back with the armor of wildfire, her father would reward her with anything she wanted. With Sekhmet keeping Sage busy, and White Blaze guarding Mia and Yulie, Ryo was left unprotected. Sakura bent down in front of him as Ryo sensed a person in front of him. 

"Who's there?" he demanded in a strong voice that belied his beat up condition. Sakura reached out and gently moved a strand of hair from his face. Ryo felt the gentle touch and moved his head, trying to feel more of it. 

"You really can't see can you?" Sakura asked softly, knowing the answer. She had seen what Sekhmet's poison could do, and her father had warned her never to be careless when training with him. Sekhmet's poisons could do a lot worse than blindness, Ryo was lucky. 

Ryo attempted to see who the owner of the voice was, as he felt the absence of the hand. Ryo gave a small smile as Sakura realized what she was doing. She stood up instantly and drew her sword. 

"I should kill you now and be done with this." She said aloud as Ryo's smile turned to a fierce determination. Sakura touched Ryo's chin with the tip of her blade, tilting his head up. __

_'I should kill him now!'_ she thought. _'It would be only too easy…just a simple downward flick of the wrist and his throat would be cut.'_ Sakura stood there as she noticed that her hand was shaking. Ryo sensed her hesitation. Just then a shower of rocks filled the air as Sekhmet used his swords again. A huge rock hurtled through the air as Sakura instantly scooped up Ryo and moved him out of the rocks path. She set him down as the rock shattered to pieces as it hit the cave wall. Her breath came in fast gulps as Ryo realized what just happened. 

"You saved me." He said quietly as Sakura quickly moved away from him. Her hands shaking in fear and shock. _'What have I done?' _ She looked at Ryo again, clenching her hands into fists of frustration. _'Why can't I kill him!?' _ She demanded of herself. Sakura shook her head, in horror over what she did, and fled. 

"Wait" Ryo called in a futile attempt to bring his unknown savior back as he touched the place on his cheek where she had touched him so gently. Sakura waited as Sage managed to defeat Sekhmet. Sekhmet ran and appeared next to her.

"Let's go." He ordered as Sakura moved to follow him. She turned and gave one last look at the still blind Ryo and left. 

Back in her father's throne room, Sakura and Sekhmet stood in front of Talpa, heads bowed in shame. 

"You imbeciles!" he shouted as his eyes glowed red. "You have failed me! My own daughter and my warlord failed against a blind Ronin and another imprisoned in ROCK!" 

"But master…"Sekhmet said in an attempt to explain when better judgment stopped him. Talpa sent Sekhmet to the lower levels of the dungeon while Sakura, thankful her father never saw her save Ryo, was sentenced to never leave her room and her practice was intensified to an almost unbearable level. Later, Sakura snuck out of her room and quietly made her way to the throne room. She cautiously made sure that no one was around as she ran in.  She stood before the giant screen that he father used to watch the Ronins progress on as she watched Sage restored Ryo's sight, by shining light into his eyes. Sakura clasped her hands together, holding them close to her chest, and fought a smile as a small tear forced itself out and trickled down her face.


	10. faces revealed

It was not long after Sakura and Sekhmet's failure against Sage did the Ronins located the others and become a full group again. And if Sakura and the warlords thought Talpa was hard enough to obey before, his demands became even worse because of his constant foul mood. Sakura learned to train in silence, never voicing complaint, as did the others. If Talpa heard one single mutter, then that person, along with every else had an extra hour of training, and it wasn't easy either. Talpa was infuriated with their losses against the Ronins and so he insisted on dawn till dusk trainings to make sure they wouldn't fail him again.  During one morning, Talpa came to the training room, as he surveyed the pairings. Sakura was paired with Anubis, Cale with Dais, and Sekhmet was perfecting a technique. 

Talpa studied the pairings when he spoke. 

"Dais, Sakura. I want you two to fight as a team against Anubis and Cale!" 

Sakura and Dais looked at each other, shrugged and did as they were ordered. The two faced off against Anubis and Cale and started a battle. Talpa watched for a moment before calling it quits.

"Alright, I see that you two will do fine." He said to Dais and Sakura. 

"Fine for what?" Sakura asked hesitantly. 

"You two will be attacking the Ronins." Talpa said plainly. Sakura blinked. 

"Sir?" she asked again. 

Talpa shot her a look. "You heard me, get ready. You two will be leaving at once!" Dais and Sakura rushed to prepare as they made their way to the throne room with the others. Once in the throne room, the two stood in front of Talpa as the others observed the screen. 

"Two of the Ronins are alone; I want you two to get rid of them!" Talpa ordered. Sakura took a quick look at their opponents and gave an inward sigh. 

It was just Kento and Cye. No Ryo. 

"You two better not fail me!" Talpa warned as Dais and Sakura bowed, and left. They two waited in the shadows as Cye and Kento continued their talking, unaware that they were being watched. 

"Ready?" Dais whispered as Sakura gave a small nod. With a yell they leapt out of the shadows and attacked. Cye and Kento barely had time to call on their armor as they defended. 

"Where did they come from?" Cye shouted to Kento as he brought up his trident against Sakura's sword. 

"I was hoping you knew." Kento answered as he dodged a blow from Dais. 

"Where are the others when you need them?" Cye muttered. 

"Web of Deception!" Dais called as he sent out his familiar scythes. Sakura gracefully maneuvered in and out of the web that Dais had caused as she continued her fight with Cye. 

"Tornado Shards!" Sakura called using her sure kill. She quickly swept her sword in a crescent shape as five crescent shaped blasts were hurtled toward Cye. All but one missed as one cut the arm of his armor. Cye growled as he used his own sure kill, "Super Wave Smasher!"  

Ryo and the others had heard the fighting and were rushing to help. They had transformed and stopped as they observed the fight. 

"That's Dais." Sage said identifying Dais' spider looking armor. 

"But who is the other guy?" Ryo asked as he watched the golden armored fighter. 

"Looks like Talpa has a new recruit." Rowen said as they rushing in to help.  Sakura noticed Ryo out of the corner of her eye as she stopped fighting with Cye and turned her attention to Ryo. The two went sword against sword as each mentally applauded the others skill. Sakura eventually used a quick maneuver that sent Ryo's sword flying out of his hand. Ryo went for it as Sakura attempted to stop him. Suddenly a huge white blur propelled itself into her as White Blaze tackled her. Sakura was pinned beneath his weight. A loud roar came from the forest as Kero pounced on White Blaze.   

"Kero!" Sakura yelled, angered that her tiger had disobeyed her order to stay home, and thankful that he had come to help. With White Blaze and Kero now fighting each other Sakura turned her attention back to Ryo right as he performed his flare up technique. The attack hit Sakura square in the chest sending her flying into a nearby tree, and sending up clouds of dust.  Everyone stopped for a moment as the watched the dust settle. Sakura shakily stood up, Kero and Dais appearing at her side. The attack had knocked off her helmet as she stood up, her bangs covering her face. She slowly lifted her head, revealing her face as Ryo's heart sank. _'Sakura!'_ he thought with sadness. Sakura looked at Ryo. _'Now he knows.'_ She thought. 

"You have been a worthy adversary." Sakura called out to him. "You may have won this battle, but the war is far from over." Ryo stood quietly, looking at her. 

"I think it is time for us to go, Dais." Sakura whispered to him quietly. Dais agreed as Sakura turned her attention back to Ryo. 

"Until we meet again, Wildfire." She said as she, Dais, and Kero disappeared. 

The Ronins stood there for a moment, a little stunned. 

"I guess that means we won?" Kento said. 

"We won." Cye answered as they turned and headed back to where Mia and Yulie were. Ryo slowly followed, his heart heavy. She was one of them, a warlord of Talpa. No, they hadn't won, or at least, he hadn't. 


	11. evil plots and plans

Sakura had many fights with the Ronins after that, getting stronger and stronger after each one, but each battle kept ending in a stale mate.  Neither side was winning, and the person that this annoyed most was Talpa. 

"I don't understand it." Talpa growled as he paced the room.  Sakura and the other warlords watched as he went from one side to the other.  "It doesn't make sense, why can't we defeat them?" Talpa yelled his voice shaking the ceiling. "What are we doing wrong?"

"Maybe, it's not something that we're doing wrong, father," Sakura suggested trying to appease her father. "Maybe, they have something that is allowing them to hold us off."

"Like magic?" Talpa sneered rounding on her knowing full well she was the only one who could do it.

Sakura shrank back against the wall, "not magic per say, but something that their armor can do that ours can't"

"Maybe we can send your little friend Artemis to find something out." Anubis suggested to Sakura. Artemis was the recent addition to Sakura's pet collection, a wolf that she had found as a pup and had reared. 

"Right," Cale mocked, "That won't be obvious a wolf following them around and watching their every move. Why don't you just strap a speaker to it shouting, 'Hey, we're listening to your plans.'?" 

"Cale, is right," Sekhmet agreed, "Following them, even if it is just an animal would be much too noticeable."

"Maybe we could send a person." Talpa quietly said an idea forming in his head. 

"A person!" Dais asked with confusion. "How would that help, they would surely know that they were on our side." 

"But what if they had claimed to change sides?" Sekhmet added, "They do seem to have a soft spot for people who have seen the error of their ways." He mocked.

"That could actually work." Anubis said. "But who would we send? It would have to be someone we know won't betray us, and can think on their feet."

"Precisley," Talpa acknowledged. "That's why Sakura is going." Talpa had no knowledge of his daughter's encounters with Ryo. And so he figured that she would be the best choice. She was his daughter after all. 

"What!?!" Sakura yelled in objection. "Me? Why me?" Sakura didn't like the plan and she defiantly didn't like being the one chosen to be the spy.  She preferred to stay as far away from Ryo as possible. It was bad enough that she couldn't get him off of her mind, and she had even saved him once. But being forced to stay with him 24/7, there was no way she was going to agree.  

"Because we know you wouldn't betray your own father, and you have gotten yourself out of tighter spots than all of us put together." Cale said.

"You're the perfect choice." Sekhmet agreed.

"But think about it," Sakura challenged. "I'm Talpa's _daughter_ what are the chances that they are going to let me in?"

"But, they don't know that your Talpa's daughter, that gives us an advantage." Dais pointed out.

"Fine! But they still know that I'm a warlord; they have seen my face remember? And they aren't just going to let me waltz in and say 'Hey guys, I'm sorry that I've been fighting ya'll. Mind if I join your team?'" Sakura argued. She was not going to go without a fight.

"That's why you are going to have to prove yourself to them." Talpa said.

"How am I going to do that?" Sakura wanted to know. 

"There is going to be a natural disaster and you are going to save one of the Ronin warriors from it." Talpa told her.

Talpa then outlined his plan and when he was finished they all looked expectantly at Sakura. She sighed in resignation.

"All right, I'll do it." 

"Now, we need to know where they are." Sekhmet said.

"We can still use Artemis for that," Anubis said. 

Sakura summoned the wolf and told him his job. "Go out and find the Ronin warriors, when you have found them come back here and let us know." 

With that Artemis barked his understanding and ran out the door.  He returned a few days later and told Sakura where the Ronins were located. 

"The Emperor lands?" Sakura said with surprise. "What could they possible be doing over there?"

"Actually, from what you told us, they are in the neutral area outside the Emperor lands." Anubis pointed out.

"But, still that's a good two month journey on foot to reach the shadow lands. I mean I can get there fairly quickly riding Draco, but they don't have anyway of riding something to get here. And the Shadow lands seem to be there next destination." Sakura said.

"No matter," Talpa explained. "Only you and Anubis will need to go. You will of course stay with them…"

"If they let me." Sakura said with irritation.

"And Anubis can return on Draco." Talpa finished. 

"Sounds good to me." Anubis said and then he and Sakura went to get ready.


	12. preparations

"Are you ready to do this?" Anubis asked Sakura as they flew through the air, riding on Draco. 

"No," Sakura stubbornly said. "I never liked this plan, but hey everyone else says it a good idea."

"Well… it is." Anubis answered. 

"You're also not the one who has to save your enemy." Sakura pointed out. "By the way, which Ronin am I saving anyway?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Anubis admitted. "All we know from Talon is that they send one of them out for scouting every day around sundown. So it will be whoever turn it is is."

Talon suddenly appeared on Sakura's right side and told her where he had seen the Ronin warrior out on his scouting mission.

"Great Talon! You've been a big help, oh and which one is it?" Sakura questioned.

Talon piped off his answer and flew back towards the Shadow lands, his job done. Sakura scowled. _'Of course,'_ she thought. _'If I have to save one of them it just has to be Ryo doesn't it'_ she thought sarcastically. _'At least father _knows_ I am doing it this time.'_

"There seems to be a good place to land and start the fire." Anubis said pointing to a grassy covered rock that offered a little visibility and cover.  Draco gently glided over to the spot and landed. Anubis and Sakura climbed off his back and surveyed the scene.    
"You know, it was kind of a good thing that the Ronins came back here." Anubis said. "All this dry grass will make it easy for the fire to spread; your wind will also help." 

Sakura looked around and saw he was right. They were on a savannah covered with dry grass and a few cliffs could be seen in the distance.  A river winding it wat behind the cliffs ensured that the fire wouldn't get to much out of control. 

"All right Draco," Sakura said. "Let's get ready to ice this place." 

"Ice?" Anubis asked confused.  "I thought we were burning it." 

"Well technically we are." Sakura explained, "But since it is Ryo that I'm saving that threw a wrench in the plans, so to speak."

"How is that?" Anubis pressed.

"Well, Ryo holds the armor of the wildfire, meaning his armor works best in situations of extreme heat, like a fire or a volcano. Since that is the case, we are going to have to use ice fire." 

"What the heck is ice fire?" Anubis asked.

"Well, ice fire is fire, but with some different traits. Like fire, ice fire burns whatever is flammable, you know, trees, grass all that stuff.  But, it doesn't give off heat, like fire does, meaning Ryo can't gain help from it. But it can still kill a person they way fire can. Understand?"

"Yeah, I think so." Anubis said. "But, how do we make it?"

"That's were Draco comes in." Sakura said patting Draco's side. "A dragon has two sacs inside of its stomach.  A fire sac and an ice fire sac. With a little help from my magic we can get a pretty good blaze going on." Sakura finished proudly.

"One question," Anubis said holding up a finger. "Won't the fact that it is ice fire make this an unnatural disaster? Because, that would make it obvious that we started the fire."

A good point, but luckily these lands are known for sprouting ice fires. A few dragons live around these areas and they start them occasionally." Sakura answered.

"Perfect," Anubis said with a wicked grin. "And here comes Ryo. Good luck"

Sakura nodded her agreement. "Okay, Draco, you know what to do." Draco looked at her then blew a silvery flame that immediately started to burn in the grass around it.  Anubis and Sakura jumped on Draco's back as he blew more of the flame.  Sakura called on the wind and a breeze started fanning the flame.  Draco then rose into the air high enough not to be seen, but low enough the two riders could see what was happening.

"There's Ryo." Anubis said pointing at the person on the ground.  "He should notice the fire soon. Then you'll go and save his butt."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Author's note- Okay I admit that I got the whole fire rescue thing from the Lion King II movie, but I couldn't think of anything else.  I did try to change things around a bit though.  Sorry this chapter is so short.  Next one will be the rescue. 


	13. firey rescue

Ryo moved cautiously around the savannah surveying the land. _'I really don't know why we are even sending out someone to scout.'_ He thought. _'No one would even think to look for us out here, but whatever.'_ Ryo continued to move and scout around unaware of the flying dragon over his head or the now spreading fire. He had gone a good ways when he looked up and saw a group of animals running towards him.  Ryo quickly moved out of their path for fear of being trampled.

_'They look like they're really scared of something.'_ Turning around he saw what it was, a gigantic silvery flame was almost upon him, burning the ground and the grass. Ryo turned on his heels and started wildly running towards the river anxious to get away from the impending flame.  Ryo turned his head and saw the flame was quickly gaining. Ryo ran harder and made it to the cliffs when he realized that he was trapped.  He would have to climb up the side of the cliff if he wanted to get away from the fire.  Ryo started his upward climb and got about halfway up when he lost his grip and went tumbling down.  He hit the ground with a thud.  He tried to get up, but fell down again, his vision blurring slightly.  Suddenly he saw a dark figure emerge from the flames, it was a woman, but the smoke was blocking her face.

"Mia?" Ryo said weakly as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Sakura frowned and knelt down and flipped Ryo on his back.  She looked to the left, then to the right. She stared at his face for a moment as she moved a lock of hair from his face. Picking him up she turned and started running towards the river.  _'I better hurry,'_ she thought, _'the other warriors will have seen the smoke from the fire by now and will come to help Ryo. I have to get him to the other side of the river.'_ Sakura ran as fast as she could; the unconscious Ryo in her arms.  She finally made it to the river and jumped in.  She situated Ryo in her arms and started swimming towards the opposite shore. Once she felt the ground underneath her, she stood up and carried Ryo up onto the bank.  She placed him on his back, bending over tried to return her breathing to normal.  She was surprised when a warm tongue licked water from the side of her face.  Looking up she saw Kero who had once again disobeyed orders to stay home.

"Kero" she scolded, "You were supposed to stay home!" 

Kero had the graces to look humbled as he licked her hand.

Sakura sighed, it was hard to stay mad at him, "What am I going to do with you?" she said with a smile. "Ok, you can stay; I'll probably need all the friends I can get."

Suddenly she heard Ryo moan, turning around she saw him stirring.

"Your awake." She said to him. Ryo sat up and rubbed his head. Ryo looked at Sakura in shock and opened his mouth to say something when voiced interrupted.

"Ryo!" a myriad of voices called as the other Ronins, Mia, and Yulie came into view.  _'So that's Mia and Yulie_.' Sakura mentally thought.  _'They don't look like they will be that much of a concern.'_  White Blaze ran past the Ronins to stand in front of Ryo. He spread his paws apart  and growled menencenly at Sakura.  Kero jumped in front of Sakura and returned the growl at White Blaze his hackles raised.

"Let him be, Kero." Sakura said.  Kero sat down at her heels, but kept his teeth bared, tail twitching alertly. 

"Dude, you alright?" Kento asked as he helped Ryo to his feet.

"Yeah," he weakly said, "I'm fine," his voice growing stronger. "But she saved me." The others looked at Sakura suspicion etched in their faces.

"You saved him?" Rowen asked. "Why?"

"I have come to ask to join the Ronin warriors." Sakura humbly said. The Ronins looked at her with a mixture of surprise and disbelief.

"What?" Sage asked. "You expect us to let you stay with us? You must be crazy."

"Why?" Sakura challenged.

"Because your one of Talpa's warlords.  One of the top ranking warlords if we aren't mistaken." Sage countered.

"I am not one of Talpa's warlords anymore." Sakura said suddenly pretending to be interested in the rock at her feet. "I have seen the pain and misery I've caused and so I wish to join you in your fight against Talpa to make amends for the terrible things I've done."

The Ronins looked at each other and then at Sakura unsure of what to make of it.

"Please," she continued, "give me a second chance to show you that I truly have changed."

"You will excuse us to confer amongst ourselves won't you?" Sage said bitingly, more of a demand than a question.

"Of course," Sakura bowed humbly as she stepped back awaiting there verdict.

The Ronins, Mia, and Yulie gathered together each face showing the surprise and distaste that they held for her.

"What do you think?" Sage asked.

"I think we should get rid of her while we have the chance." Ryo said trying to ignore the way his heart beat faster when she spoke.

"But, Ryo," Mia said reprovingly, "She saved your life."

"From a fire she probably started." Sage argued.

"We have no proof of that." Cye stated. "And the fact still remains is that even if she did, why didn't she let Ryo die? She had the perfect opportunity to."

No one could really come up with a logical answer to that question, but they were all still doubtful for Sakura's intentions.

"Well, Ryo, it's up to you." Rowen said. "We'll go with whatever you decide."

"Why me?" Ryo asked. He did not want to be put in charge of this decision.

"Because you're the one she saved and we figure you will probably give her a more fair chance than anyone of us would." Cye said.

The group turned around to face Sakura, who had her hands clasped in front of her with an unsure expression on her face. 

"You can stay… for now," Ryo added. "That will give us enough time to decide whether or not she is on our side." He said quietly to the others. The others nodded their agreement and Sakura smiled triumphantly, as they started heading off towards their campsite, flanked on either side by one of the Ronins.

_'Perfect,_' Sakura thought to herself. '_Now that I'm in… I can find out what makes these guys so unbeatable and then…'_ She laughed under her breath as she looked up at the sky and saw a dragon and a rider flying away into the sunset.


	14. beginning of a new friendship

Ryo and the others returned to their makeshift campsite with Sakura following them. Ryo was having a hard time trying to not to stare at her.  _'Why did I let her stay?'_ he asked himself. _'How stupid can I get? Like I don't have a hard enough time not thinking about her as it is! It's because you like her. _Another voice in his head argued. Ryo frowned. _'Even if I did, I couldn't. She is the enemy and now I have to keep my eye on her all the time, just to make sure she doesn't murder us in our sleep.'_ Apparently the other warriors thought so also, because after everyone had settled around the fire, Sakura slightly excluded by the others, Sage approached him and said so.

"Don't you think that I haven't thought of that," Ryo hissed keeping his voice down, "I'll stay up for tonight and watch, and someone else can do it tomorrow and so on."

"We wouldn't even be have to be losing sleep if you had just sent her away!" Sage grumbled. Ryo silenced his complaints with a look. "She would have just followed us anyway. Besides, everyone deserves a second chance!" Sage didn't reply as he got up and got ready to sleep.

True to his word, Ryo stayed awake that night long after everyone was asleep.  Truth be told, he couldn't have slept even if he wanted to. Ryo watched Sakura as she slept her head resting on Kero, who was curled around her.  _'She really is pretty,'_ he thought to himself. '_And she looks so gentle and innocent, like she could never hurt anybody._ Ryo suddenly realized the direction his thoughts were going as he shook his head.  _'Oh! Snap out of it,'_ He told himself.  _'She can say what she wants, but she is the enemy and I can't allow myself to think those kinds of thing, not if I want to stay alive.'_

Ryo spent the rest of the night in an attempt to occupying his mind with other things till morning.  Sakura woke first unaware that Ryo was still up.  She stretched her arms above her head and got up Kero following her. 

"Where do you think your going?" Ryo asked her suddenly.

Startled, Sakura turned around to see Ryo watching her. "Stayed awake all night to make sure I didn't murder you all in your sleep did ya?" she asked with a sad smile. "I expected as much."

"Well, can you blame us?" Ryo asked her, trying to defend himself.

Sakura hung her head looking every inch the sorry new recruit, "No, I guess I really can't." and with that she turned and headed towards the river.

"You never answered my question." Ryo yelled getting to his feet.

"The river," Sakura said over her shoulder, without stopping, "you can come if you'd like, but Kero is always thirsty in the morning."

Ryo opted to let her go by herself as he sat back down. _'she can't get into to much trouble down there by herself, what harm could she do down there'?_

Sakura, relieved that she wasn't being followed, made it to the river and set Kero on guard.

"Stay here and alert me if anyone comes this way, I need to speak to father." Kero growled his agreement and sat down by the river.

Sakura hurried over to a group of trees and took of her mother's crystal. She held it in her hand until it turned blue; she then drew a circle in the air with it.  When the circle was completed her fathers face magically materialized inside the circle.

"How are things?" her father questioned.

"Not so good, they don't trust me at all." Sakura said gravely.

"Not surprising, do we need to attack so that you can prove your loyalty to them?"

Sakura thought about this for a moment, "Let's use that as a last resort," she decided. "They might think I was the one who called the attack."

"Fine," her father answered, "But find out their secret soon, you understand me." Talpa demanded. "I want to defeat them as soon as possible."

Sakura bowed low, "Yes sir." With that her fathers face disappeared along with the circle.  Sakura replaced the necklace on her neck and found Kero and walked back to the campsite. The other Ronins had woken up by now. When she appeared out of the forest, they stopped mometarily as they watched her come closer.

"Surprised to be alive?" Sakura teased.

She was rewarded with sarcastic smiles as they ignored her comment and started gathering things up. Ryo silently walked up to Sakura and tapped her on the shoulder.  Sakura turned around.

"Yes," she asked waiting for a stinging comment she was sure that was coming her way.

Ryo looked at her then at the ground. _'I can't believe I am doing this.'_  he thought. "Umm…" he stammered. "Thanks for saving me yesterday," he said, finally  looking at her. Sakura face showed the surprise she felt giving way to a small smiled.

"You're welcome," she said as he walked away. '_Maybe spending time with them won't be so bad after all.'_ She thought with a smile.

"Hey Ryo, come help me with this," Yulie said as he struggled to put up his tent. Ryo walked over to where Yulie was having trouble.

_'Maybe having her here won't be so bad after all_,' Ryo thought thinking of the surprised expression on her face, as he helped Yulie with this tent.


	15. a daughters decision

Sakura's stay with the Ronin warriors over the next few weeks improved greatly after Ryo's guesture. The Ronins were surprised when Sakura turned out to be a valuable asset to their team.  She was able to show them a more direct route to her father's castle and give them information about the warlords that they didn't know before. But she was always mindful that it was not major information, but things that wouldn't destroy her father's dynasty if word got out. She hoped that by telling them things, they would think she was on their side. But the Ronins weren't the only ones who got something out of the deal. Sakura in turn, enjoyed the feeling of being part of a team, as a warlord it was mostly solo missions, and she also liked the companionship, especially Ryo's.  The two got surprisingly close after he had thanked her. The Ronins slowly started to trust Sakura, once they realized that she wasn't going to kill them when their backs were turned. Sakura still checked in with her father, but the time between each meeting became longer and longer, and the meetings grew shorter and shorter.  Truth be told there wasn't anything to report except their position.  She had kept her eyes open and tried to find the secret to their seemingly invincibility; she spied, eavesdropped and searched, but she never noticed anything different and had slowly lost interest in the mission.  Sakura even had a chance to meet Ancient once or twice.  He always had a strange look that seemed to say that he had known that she would one day be a ronin. Sakura scoffed at his ignorance to what she was really doing, but she felt that he knew why she was really there and just chose to let her be. He seemed happy to have her on the Ronin side and made her feel welcome, but she always got home sick afterwards because he reminded her of Anubis. Ancient had also told her all about Talpa's plans to rule the world and Sakura started to doubt what she had been told her entire life. Kero and White Blaze had become good friends also and often watched each others backs. There was only one thing that bothered her. Her feelings for Ryo.  They were going stronger every day and she was dreading the day that she would have to return home with the vital information that would bring about his downfall. 

It was late one night after every one had gone to sleep, they no longer had a guard to watch her all night, and she sneaked off to meet Anubis.  He had told her, by sending a message with Talon, to meet him there at night.  She crept to the tree where he would meet her.

"Sakura." A voice whispered.

"Anubis?" Sakura asked looking around for him.

"Up here, in the tree." Anubis jumped down and landed silently beside her.

"Find out their secret yet?" Anubis asked.

Sakura hung her head, "No," she muttered. "I haven't been able to distinguish any prominent difference between them and us, except what we're fighting for."

"Talpa wants you to come back home." Anubis told her suddenly.

Sakura looked at him with surprise. "But…but why?" she stammered.

"Because you've been here for almost two months!  He said that if you haven't found out anything by now, then you never will." Anubis answered.

"No," Sakura protested strongly, searching her mind for a reason to stay. "He can't make me go home now! I'm this close to finding out their secret. Just a few more days. I promise."

Anubis stared at her piercingly, realization dawning on him. "You don't want to go home, do you?" Anubis asked softly already knowing the answer.

Sakura hung her head, "No." she admitted.

"I had a feeling after I saw you save him that this would happen." Anubis said bitterly. "Your in love with that red Ronin Warrior, Ryo aren't you?"

"I'm not in love with him," Sakura quickly argued defensively as her face turned red, "And even if I was, that's not the reason I'm staying."

"Then please, inform me at to why you feel the need to betray your own father." Anubis asked accusingly.

"Because, I realize now that father has been lying to us this entire time.  He's just using us to take over the world, once he's done with us, he'll strip us of our armors and cast us aside." Sakura explained. 

Anubis shook his head slowly, "I never thought I would hear _you_ say that. The armors are his." The disappointment in his voice made her cringe.

Sakura wildly shook her head, anxious to make Anubis believe her, "That may have been in the past, but the armors are ours now. And I've seen how cruel my father can be.  I can't stand silently by and help him cause that kind of pain and aguish anymore. I'm sorry, but this is the right thing."

"Since when do you care about doing the right thing!" He snapped. Sakura hung her head ashamed. Anubis looked at her sadly, "then I guess that makes us enemies now." He said finally.

"No, you can join us Anubis, you have always been like a big brother to me, and I don't want to fight against you, or any of you." Sakura said, tears pricking the back of her eyes.

"I won't betray Lord Talpa just because his own daughter is willing to." Anubis said loyally, his back going rigid at the suggestion.

Sakura looked at him, her eyes full of sadness, "then we truly are at a parting of ways then. But…" She said quickly, hope in her voice. "Could I ask you to do one thing for me, as my brother"

Anubis looked at her his eyes softening. "Alright."

"Will you tell father that even though I've switching sides that I still love him, and tell the other warlords that I'm going to miss them to?" Sakura pleaded.

Anubis nodded his agreement, and slowly turned and vanished. Sakura stood there alone for a few minutes before turning and trudging back to the campsite, feeling as if her heart would break. She felt terrible, but she knew she was doing the right thing. If anyone noticed any change in Sakura's attitude they didn't say anything, and Sakura was grateful.  For even though she was now truly on their side, she couldn't bring herself to tell them just yet what her original intentions had been. Fear at their reaction and disbelief that she really was trying to be good now sealed her mouth. Sakura spent the rest of the night sitting in tree singing to herself.  It was what she always did when she felt upset.  Ryo stood under the tree listening to her beautiful voice floating through the air.

 "Sakura." He asked tentatively.

"How did you know where I was?" she asked look down at him from her lofty perch.

"I followed your voice," he said climbing the tree to be next to her. "I didn't know you could sing like that. It's beautiful"

"Thank you," she said quietly.

"You want to tell me what's bugging you?" he asked her.

Sakura looked at him and gave him a half hearted smile, "Thanks for you concern, but it really isn't anything to worry about." She answered.

"I'll be alright, I promise.  I just need a little time to myself that's all."

Ryo smiled at her and jumped down from the tree, "You know you can always tell me anything. I'll be here for you if you need me." He said as he walked back to the campsite, listening to Sakura's voice as it floated through the air.


	16. one girl, two traitors

Sakura started to dread the next few days, she knew what was coming. Once her father heard of her switching sides, he was going to come see her face to face and find out once and for all what was going on.  She just hoped that none of the warriors would be around to witness it. Her father wouldn't care where they were as long as he got to find out what had possessed her to disobey his orders. And if the ronins ever found out that she was Talpa's daughter, well she didn't want to think of it. The encounter came sooner than she had thought.  It was mid afternoon, when she went down to a stream in the middle of the forest when she heard her name being called.  She turned around to find herself face to face with the floating head that was her father.  Sakura groaned inwardly. This wasn't going to be good.

"You want to tell me what kind of game you're playing, Sakura!" her father demanded loudly.

"I'm not playing anything." Sakura answered calmly, standing up. "I told Anubis to tell you, I'm not working for you anymore."

Talpa's red eyes flashed dangerously. "How dare you betray me?" he asked coldly. "Your own father. You can't do this to me."

"Just because I'm your daughter doesn't mean that I can't make decisions for myself, and I choose to fight against you." Sakura replied hotly. "You've lied to me my entire life; you said you wanted to make the world a better place.  How can you expect me to want to obey you when all you tell me are lies!"

"How do you know that Ancient isn't lying to you also?" Talpa asked smugly.

Sakura thought about it for a minute, he had a point. If the truth be told she didn't know if he was or wasn't. "Well, maybe he is." She said slowly. "But, both his story and yours clash, that means, one of you is lying, and I just have to choose the side that I feel is right." She finished.

Unbeknownst to Sakura, Sage and Cye had come looking for her when she hadn't returned in a while. Ryo had asked them too, and they were joking about it the entire way to the stream.

"I think someone has a crush." Sage said in reference to Ryo.

"Like that isn't obvious." Cye replied with a laugh.

"I bet he is still pacing in that circle." Cye added with he looked up and his face paled.

"What?" Sage asked as he turned his head to look at what Cye had seen. "Talpa."

 Cye moved forward and prepared to jump in and help Sakura, but Sage held him back.

"Look," he said to Cye. "They're arguing. Let's see what this is all about."

Cye nodded his agreement and the two hid behind a tree close enough to hear them. Sakura and Talpa, so involved with their dispute had no idea they were being listened to.

"You are my daughter!" Talpa said fiercely, hoping to guilt her into coming home with him.

"Yes, I am." Sakura replied. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"So you are going to do what I told you to. Find out the secret to the Ronin warriors, and come home and tell me.  Then we will defeat them once and for all." Sakura looked away, her trying to keep her face calm.

"I have waited for this for too long!" Talpa said moving closer to her. "And I won't have my planed ruined just because my daughter wants to prove that she can do something on her own!"

Cye and Sage looked at each other with hardened faces, they had heard enough.  The two quickly hurried away to tell the others, missing the rest of the conversation. 

"I am not trying to prove anything!" She said her fists clenching. "But I refuse to tell you anything. I won't help you hurt them." Talpa stared at her for a moment. Taking in her crossed arms and angry features. He had lost this battle, for now. But he had seen the two warriors run off, and knew what their reaction would be. They would turn on her and she would have no choice but to come home. All he had to do was play his part, and she would be back.

"Then you will die with them as well." Talpa hissed and quickly vanished from sight.

Sakura covered her face with her hands and sank to her knees, filled with sorrow.  She had just betrayed her own father, and the fact that he had lied to her or not still didn't cover the fact that he was her dad, and she still loved him. She always would.  She knew it was the right thing to do, but why did it have to hurt so much.  Kero came over to her and licked her cheek. She smiled sadly at him,

"Thanks, Kero," she said, "I needed that." She gave him a quick hug around his neck.

She sat there for a while, burying her face in his fur, Kero purring in her ear. She leaned back and wiped a tear from her eye.  Standing up she turned to head back to camp. "Come on, let's head back."

Once Sakura got there she was greeted by glares and stony looks. _'Oh, no,'_  Her gaze flitted from look to look, not seeing a single friendly face. She gulped inwardly and addressed them.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Sakura asked innocently.

"Don't even speak to us you traitor." Kento said to her. Sakura knew that was coming but she took a step back anyway.

"We heard you talking to Talpa." Sage said. "Your _father_ sent you to find out information on us to kill us all."

"No, it's not like that." Sakura said trying to catch Ryo's eye, who was avoiding her gaze and interested in a bird sitting on a branch.

"Do you deny that you were sent here to help Talpa get information on us?" Cye questioned, trying to give her a chance.

"It may have started out like that." Sakura admitted. "But everything is different now, I realize that Talpa…"

"You mean your father?" Rowen spat, angry at her trickery.

"Yes, he is my father, but I'm not working for him anymore.  I haven't been for a long time.  Please you guys have to believe me." Sakura pleaded.

She looked around the group. Kento, Sage, Cye, and Rowen had their arms crossed and was glaring at her. Mia and Yulie weren't sure whether or not to believe her.  White Blaze and Kero were locked in a deadly stare and were growling at one another, and Ryo, sweet dependable Ryo, her closest friend, the man she had come to count on wasn't even willing to look at her.  She ran to him forcing him to look at her. She placed a gently hand on his cheek and Ryo felt a flash of remembrance; like he had felt this before.  
"Ryo," she said her golden eyes pleading with his. "You have to believe me; I would never betray you or any of the others."

Ryo fought within himself.  He desperately wanted to hold her and tell her that he believed her, to tell her that he didn't care that she was Talpa's daughter, to tell her how he felt about her, to tell the others that he didn't care what they heard, she was his best friend and would never do that to him. But he couldn't.

"Why should we believe you?" he asked softly. "You betrayed your own father, what's to stop you from betraying us?"

Sakura's eyes widened with hurt and welled up with tears; she slowly backed away from Ryo, turned, and ran.


	17. against the odds

Sakura stumbled wildly through the forest. She didn't know where she was going; all she knew was that she had to be alone. _'Why won't they believe me?'_ she thought to herself. _'I thought they realized by now that I was on their side'_ She wiped a small tear from her eye'_I guess I can't blame them though. Why didn't I tell them everything when I had the chance?'_ Sakura came out of the forest and found herself at the edge of a cliff. Slowing down, Sakura walked over to the edge and looked down at the view. Tired from her flight she sat down, her feet dangling over the ledge. She stared absentmindedly at the empty air for a while, the wind rustling through her hair.

Ryo and the others watched as Sakura took off through the forest, Kero and at her heels. Ryo felt as if his heart would break, or had broken. She was still the enemy and apparently nothing he could do or say would change that.

"I just can't believe this." Mia said. "Sakura hasn't done anything to show that she's been against us ever since she came here."

"We heard her talking to her father, Mia." Sage said. "She was getting orders to destroy us. What other proof do you need?"

"Maybe we didn't hear all of the conversation." Cye said tentatively. "I mean we did leave before it was over."

"That isn't the point though." Rowen said. "I mean she still lied to us."

"Technically she didn't." Kento reasoned. "We never asked her specifically if Talpa was her dad."

"I wish we knew if she was telling the truth or not." Cye said softly.

"You could have known." A familiar voice said. "If you had stayed, you would have realized she was on your side."

The Ronins turned around to look at the owner of the voice.

"Ancient!" they all cried.

"What do you mean?" Sage asked. "How can you be sure?"

Ancient waved his staff and the image of Sakura and Talpa appeared before them. Sakura standing tall and defiant; Talpa looking as evil as ever. "Why don't you listen and see for yourself."

"I won't help you hurt them." The holographic Sakura said.

The image of Talpa sneered at her, "Then you will die with them as well." Then the figures vanished.

The Ronins stared in shock and humility. "So she was telling us the truth the entire time." Rowen said.

Ryo gaped at where the image disappeared. _'Sakura. 'What have I done?'_ he thought miserably to himself.

Spinning around he turned to the others, "Come on, we have to find her!" he yelled as he tore into the underbrush in the direction he had seen Sakura go.

The others nodded their agreement and took after Ryo intent to find their teammate.

_'I can still find her!'_ Ryo thought to himself as he ran. '_I can still make this right!'_

Sakura tears had finally subsided. She continued to stare at the valley below her when she realized she wasn't alone. Turning she saw all the warlords, plus the head of her father behind her.

"What do you want? Sakura said defiantly as she turned and stood to face them.

"We are here to give you one last chance to join us again and take back what you have said." Cale informed her.

"We are willing to forget this whole thing if you promise to never let it happen again." Dais said.

Sakura stared at them coldly, "I will never fight for you again!" she said sternly to her father. Talpa gave her a look of warning. Turning to the others she pleaded with them. "Don't you understand? He's just using you, once he's done with you he'll cast you aside."

"How dare you say that about Lord Talpa?" Sekhmet asked outraged.

"Look! There she is!" Rowen said pointing.

"And she isn't alone." Sage commented. The group skid to a halt and knelt behind the trees. Now was the time to find out the truth.

"Sakura," her father demanded. "Stop trying to change the subject, we will give you one last chance to regain your place in the dynasty. So what will it be, us or them?"

Sakura glared defiantly at them. "Them" she promptly said.

"They have disowned you." Anubis pointed out, still trying to return her to her senses. "You must listen to reason, they will never accept you as one of them; we on the other hand have always been like family to you."

"I won't fight for you any longer!" Sakura stated. "They may not accept me into their group anymore, but I won't stop fighting for what's right. And I will fight against you all by myself if I have to."

"So be it." Talpa said cold finality, "Attack!" The warlords jumped at her weapons raised. Sakura took out her own, stance ready to defend when the Ronins jumped in to help her.

"Ryo?" Sakura asked, shocked to see him there.

"Sakura, we're here. You no longer have to fight alone. From now on, you have our trust." Ryo said.

Sakura smiled, "Ryo" she said softly, as they fought back against the warlords.


	18. past and present day love

Hey, I would just like to say to all of you who have read and reviewed my fic. Thanks so much. I really appreciate you all taking the time to do it. I hope that you are enjoying the fic as much as I am writing it. So please keep R&Ring my fic and thanks again.

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It didn't take long for Sakura and the others to fend off the warlords. They soon realized they were outmatched and left, to fight another day. The Ronins gathered around Sakura humbly mumbling apologies.

"It's ok you guys, really." She assured them. "In all honesty, I probably would have done that same thing. But, I am sorry for not telling you about my father being Talpa." Sakura said.

"Why didn't you?" Yulie asked.

"I was afraid of what your reaction might be." She admitted.

"Well, we probably reacted the way you thought we would didn't we?" Sage said sheepishly.

"But, that's all in the past." Ancient said appearing suddenly beside them. "And the truth is, is that Sakura is now an official Ronin warrior and henceforth needs a new name."

"A new name?" Sakura questioned. "what's wrong with my old name?"

"You are no longer a warlord," Ancient answered. "And so you should not be called Sakura the warlord of hate; you are a Ronin warrior; Sakura of the cyclone."

"Sakura of the Cyclone." Sakura said, testing it out. "I think it's fitting." Ryo commented.

So Sakura became the sixth Ronin warrior. The others made her feel as if she had always been one of them and she couldn't have been happier, except for one thing. Anubis and her father. It still upset her to think about it. She could often be found awake late at night sitting in the tops of trees just thinking about them.

"Sakura, you up there?" Ryo called up to her one night.

"Why do you ask me that when you know I am." She asked good naturedly.

"Wanted to give you a chance not to answer." He joked. "Mind if I join you?"

"Climb up and have a seat." She said patting the space on the tree branch next to her. Ryo made his way up the tree until he sat next to her.

"Still thinking about your father?" he questioned after a moment of silence.

"Is it that obvious?" she asked with a smile.

"Well, I know that you've been kinda upset ever since you joined us." He said gently.

"Well," she acknowledged. "He is my father. And I can garuntee you. I'm not his favorite anymore."

"But, think about all of the horrible things he's done, the people he's killed, the lies he's told you." Ryo said trying to make it sound better.

Sakura shook her head sadly, "He's still my father. Nothing can change that." The two sat in silence a little while longer when Sakura spoke again.

"Did you know that my father never wanted me?" she asked him.

Ryo didn't know how to answer her sudden revelation of information. "Really?" he asked weakly.

"Yeah, He never wanted a wife either." She finished.

"Then why marry in the first place?" Ryo asked confused.

"To ensure his escape from spirit world." Sakura informed him.

"How does marriage and escaping fit together?" Ryo asked confused.

Sakura giggled, "It's a long story."

"How long could it be, you're only eighteen." Ryo pointed out.

"Ok," Sakura said with a laugh. "It all started after my father got banished to spirit world. He tried so many things to get back here, but nothing worked. He figured out that some kind of magic put him there, and since magic got him there maybe magic could get him out. So he got on his best behavior and started scouting about for the most powerful sorcerer he could find in spirit world. He found one. His name was Barbadoss. My grandfather. As luck would have it, Barbadoss had a daughter. Her name was Kairiou. Talpa figured that the best way to get to Barbadoss was to suck up to Kairiou and once he was on her good side, Babadoss would do whatever he wanted. So that's what he did. There was one thing he didn't count on, and that was Kairiou falling in love with him." Sakura turned her head away. "He didn't love her back, but it worked to his advantage to marry her. Once Kairiou was his wife, my father asked for Barbadoss's help to get out of Spirt World; using the excuse that it would make Kairiou happy. So that's how my father got back. About a yeah and a half later, I was born."

"What happened to your mother?" Ryo asked when she finished.

Sakura lowered her head. "She died when I was born."

"I'm sorry" Ryo sympathized.

Sakura held up her crystal necklace so Ryo could see it. "This is all I have left of her."

Ryo reached out and took hold of Sakura's hand, glad it was dark so that she couldn't see him blushing. Sakura looked down at their joined hands then at him, feeling her face heat up.

"Your father may not have wanted you," Ryo said softly. "But, I'm glad that you were born." Sakura smiled shyly. Ryo leaned closer about to kiss her when…

"Ryo… Sakura. It's time to eat." Sage yelled though the forest.

Ryo and Sakura quickly broke apart and looked at the intruder; smiling self consciously.

"Come on," Ryo said with a laugh. "We better go before Kento eats it all."

Sakura laughed as they climbed down out of the tree and headed back towards the campsite.

_'What am I doing?'_ Sakura thought. _'I'm acting a little girl in love. LOVE?!?! Where did that come from! I'm not in love with Ryo. I mean I couldn't be…' _She glanced over at Ryo next to her, looking confused. '_could I__?'_

_'What was I thinking!'_ Ryo thought to himself. _'I was about to kiss her! She must think I'm a joke. But…I can't help it. I….I…' _He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. '_I think I love her.'_

Author's note- annoying, isn't it? Anyway just to let you all know the way to pronounce Kairiou's name is Kai-Re-You. Thought I would let you all know. I think that is also the name of the group of pirates in Rurouni Kenshin, but they may be the Kaidiriou. So the next chapter will be up soon, and I promise the long awaited kiss between Ryo and Sakura is coming.


	19. starting the attack on Talpa's castle

Now that Sakura was an official Ronin warrior, there was only one thing left for them to do. That was to face Talpa and defeat him once and for all. The group was about a few days away, and had started journeying toward his castle, led, of course, by Sakura. The first castle gate was in sight when Ryo stopped them.

"Hey," Ryo called. The others stopped and looked at him.

"Why are you stopping us?" Sakura asked.

"I just think that it would be a good idea for you to tell us about your father's castle before we actually attack it." Ryo said.

"All right, what do you want to know?" Sakura inquired.

"Anything that you think would help us, basic information, you know things like that." Rowen answered.

"Well, I know that there are three walls surrounding the actual castle. The walls separate the outer courtyard from the middle from the inner. There is about athree mile distance from wall to wall. These walls each have four doors, one at the north entrance, the south, the west, and the east. These doors are kept under close surveillance and it's doubtful that we can even get past the first one with out them knowing we are there. I also know that the east and west doors are guarded more closely than the other two."

"Why is that?" Sage wanted to know.

"Because we thought that most people would think that it would be the northern and southern doors that were more heavily guarded, and so they would go to the eastern and western doors." Sakura said.

"Clever." Cye said aloud.

"We thought so. But don't think that the other two aren't guarded, they are, just not as heavy." Sakura said.

"So, it looks like our best bet would be to go through the northern or southern door." Kento said.

"Not necessarily, since they know that Sakura is leading us, they would know that she knows that the eastern and western doors were guarded more and that we would go to the northern and southern door." Rowen analyzed.

"But," Cye cut in. "They would assume that we would think that they knew that and think we would go through the eastern and western door."

"Yes," Sage said. "But if they…"

"OKAY!" Sakura shouted. "Look we can analyze this situation to death, I don't think that it's going to matter what door we go through, they still know that we are coming and that I know things about the castle."

"Right," Mia agreed, "So is there anything else you can tell us?"

Sakura thought for a moment, "Not really, most of the stuff I know is about things contained inside the castle. That's assuming we even get that far."

"Guess we should go ahead and just be prepared for the worst." Sage said as the group headed toward the castle. They had reached the first door when Ryo stopped them again.

"What is it this time?" Sakura asked. Ryo turned to her.

"I don't think that you should come in with us." He said.

"What?" Sakura asked with a laugh, "you're joking right? I mean, I lived here, I know more about the inside of this castle than anybody."

"That may be true, but I don't want you coming in, understand." Ryo severely.

"What's going on Ryo, I'm going in. Why don't you want me to come with you?" Sakura asked puzzled.

Ryo slapped Sakura across the face. "Sakura, I mean it. You are not coming in and that's final."

Sakura stared at him in shock as her eyes filled with tears of hurt. "You still think that I'm going to turn you all in to my father don't you. You still don't trust me after all this time, I… I… I hate you Ryo Sanada." She cried at him and she spun on her heels and ran tears streaming down her face. Kero growled as she ran past him and took off after her to comfort his crying mistress.

"Sakura wait!" Mia and Yulie called after her. "You guys go on ahead, I'll talk to her." Mia said as she and Yulie ran after the upset Sakura.

"White Blaze, go help Kero and Mia watch after her." Ryo ordered the large white tiger. White Blaze roared his understanding and took off after Kero and the other three.

Sage put his hand on Ryo's shoulder. "I know that was hard for you to do, but it had to be done. For her safety."

Ryo nodded. He knew that Talpa would probably go after Sakura first to get revenge and he didn't know what he would do if anything happened to her. The others agreed with him and that helped, but he hated it that Sakura was so upset with him.

"Come on." Cye said. "We better get going." With that the Ronin warriors turned and headed into the outer courtyard of Talpa's castle.


	20. A love admitted

Sakura ran until she was out of breath and sat down on a rock choking back a sob, _'Ryo'_ she thought to herself. _'You're such a jerk sometimes_.' Kero bounded up to where she was sitting and sat down beside her and put his paw on her knee comfortinly. She smiled at him and scratched him behind his ear. White Blaze appeared soon after Kero, followed by Mia and Yulie.

"There you are." Mia said panting. "I didn't think we were going to catch up."

"Well, nobody was supposed to follow me." She said slightly angry. Mia gave her a small smile. "Don't be upset." She started. "You know Ryo didn't mean anything by what he did." Sakura didn't respond and lowered her eyes.

"Do you really hate Ryo?" Yulie asked innocently. "He was just worried about you. You're his top priority." Yulie said thinking back to a conversation he had over heard between Ryo and the others.

Sakura gave him a lopsided smile at him. "He has a weird way of showing it." She said, putting her hand to her cheek.

"Do you really hate him?" Yulie persisted.

She shook her head. "No Yulie, I don't hate him." '_Quite the opposite really.'_ She thought.

"Then why did you say that?" Yulie asked.

Sakura sighed. "I shouldn't have said it, but I was frustrated and angry and hurt. I thought that he didn't trust me."

"You know he does." Mia said gently. "He's just concerned about what might happen if you went in there with them."

"I never asked him to look out for me like that." Sakura pointed out and then sighed. "Yes, you're right, he's just trying to look after me."

Kento slowly pushed open the huge gate that separated the outer courtyard from the outside of the gate. The Ronins advanced, slowly prepared for anything that might decide to leap out and attack them.

"Keep your eyes open guys," Sage advised. "I'm sure we are expected."

"I love this spy stuff." Kento joked as he made a small show of hiding behind things and tiptoeing around.

The others gave him an exasperated look as they continued. A mist began slowly filling the air, surrounding them.

"Is that a spider?" Cye asked, motioning toward a spider like shape hanging upside down, slightly visible through the mist.

"That's no spider." Ryo said, readying his weapon. "That's Dais!"

Dais laughed as the mist cleared long enough for the Ronins to see him launch his first attack. Sending out the sickles on his back he threw them at the Ronins, Cye dodged one just in time to dodge another. Ryo gripped his sword and tried to cut the thread that was attached to the sickles, but the thread held. Dais chuckled evilly.

"Nice try Ronin, but the thread on my sickles can't be cut by an ordinary sword." He laughed again as he sent out another wave of sickles and threads for them to avoid. Cye and Kento had already been tied up by the threads and Ryo and Sage were trying to untangle Rowen when they got caught themselves. Dais strung them up on a gigantic spider web and started gloating.

"We have to find a way to break the thread." Ryo yelled at the others struggling to break free.

Dais laughed cruelly, "Struggle all you like Ronins, it won't help you." He laughed as he pulled the cocooned Ryo toward him a malicious glint in his eye.

"You will be the first to die."

Sakura jerked her head up.

"Something's wrong." She said, worry edging her voice.

"I feel it to." Mia said nodding. The small group immediately headed back toward the front gate. They had just passed through the gate when the air was filled with the ghosts of ancient priests. They whizzed continuously around their heads forming a dark cloud around them, blinding them, till they retreated out of the gate.

"Now what are we going to do?" Mia asked alarmed. "We need to get to them, but we can't move in that cloud of ghosts. Sakura nodded her agreement, but had no idea of how to get past them. The air was suddenly showered with brilliant blue light, radiating from Sakura's necklace. She took it off to examine it.

"Why is it glowing?" Yulie asked.

"I don't know," Sakura replied dumfounded. "It's never done this on it's own before." She clasped the glowing crystal firmly in her right hand. She felt the crystal grow warm as it started to enlarge. The crystal turned into a glowing blue staff similar to the one she had seen Ancient use. The staff stopped glowing and turned a golden color. Following an impulse, Sakura held it out in front of her and went through the gate followed by the others. The staff formed a barrier around them blocking off the ghosts as they hurried forward. The ghosts hovering around outside the barrier eventually disappeared revealing the Ronins strung up like flies in a web with Dais about to administer the killing stroke to Ryo. In desperation Sakura grabbed a ring off of the staff and held it in her hand until it glowed blue with her magic energy. She threw the ring like a ninja throwing star at Ryo's binds cutting him free and hitting Dais in the chest. Dais fell back surprised and shouted his anger as Ryo transformed into his armor. Taking advantage of Dais surprise, Sakura cut the others free. Once she was finished her staff shrunk back down to normal size back to the normal shape of the crystal. Replacing it around her neck she joined the fight. Dais was wildly throwing his sickles, attempting to regain his edge and ensnare them again and the Ronins were having a difficult time avoiding them. One headed straight for Ryo, whose attention was focused on another sickle. Sakura dove and pushed him out of the way, taking the hit. The sickle sliced through her armor and gave her a jagged cut from ankle to knee. She quickly rolled out of the way of another sickle, holding her leg in pain. Turning, Ryo saw that Sakura was hurt. His mind clouded with anger and fear for her safety. He placed the hilts of his twin swords together, summoning everything he could for his sure kill. Ryo's flare up technique hit Dais right on and he fled. Willing to rather risk Talpa's anger than die. After the battle had subsided and everyone was nursing their wounds, Sakura managed to move and gently place herself on a rock and examined her leg.

"How is it?" Ryo asked softly walking over to her side. She tore off a piece of her shirt and wrapped it around her leg.

"It's not too bad," She said looking up at him. "I'll be fine." The two shared an awkward silence for a moment. Neither sure what to say. "Ryo," Sakura started trying to stand up. She gasped in pain when she put weight on her injured leg as pain shot up her leg and she fell forward. Ryo instinctively reached out and caught her around her waist holding her up. Sakura looked up into his blue eyes, their faces only inches apart. She stared into his eyes for a moment and then looked down, remembering what she was going to say.

"I'm sorry for saying that I hate you." She began softly, not looking at him. "I don't, I was just mad and frustrated." She said avoiding looking down self consciously.

"Do you know why I didn't want you to come in?" he asked her gently as he lifted her chin so that she was looking at him. "It's because I was worried about you." He continued.

"But, why? Do you think that just because I am a girl I can't fight as well as you guys?" she asked mesmerized by the gentle look in his cool blue eyes.

"No," he answered softly gazing into her golden eyes. "It's because I love you." He finished as he leaned in and gently pressed his lips against hers.

Sakura stiffened with shock but slowly melted into him, returned the kiss with passion and put her arms around his neck hugging him closer. They broke apart, Sakura gazing at him.

"I love you too Ryo Sanada." She whispered and kissed him again. Ryo hugged her tight, never wanting to let her go. He lifted her off the ground and spun her around happily. Sakura grinned and kissed him again. The two continued their kiss oblivious to the fact that of where they were and the job they had to do. All they cared about for the moment was each other.

The others stood back together in a group watching with smiles of approval.

"About time." Mia said. "Those two have had it bad for each other ever since they first met."

"Good," Sage said. "Now we don't have to watch them blush everytime they catch the other staring all the time."

"No, it'll probably be worse now." Cye commented with a laugh.

"It's kind of weird though." Kento spoke up. "You never would have thought it would happen."

"Never thought what would happen?" Rowen asked him.

"That Ryo of the Wildfire, our unofficial leader of the Ronin warriors, would have fallen in love with Sakura, Talpa's daughter."


End file.
